Presidential election in Tajikistan in 1994

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Election winner Emomalij Rahmon

The 1994 presidential election in Tajikistan took place on November 6, 1994, during the Tajik Civil War . With his victory in the election, Emomalij Rahmon , who previously acted de facto as President of Tajikistan, was able to strengthen his position and assert himself in the office of President.

background

In the course of the collapse of the Soviet Union , Tajikistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union on September 9, 1991 . In addition to the Communist Party of Tajikistan, other parties had been founded beforehand that pursued anti-communist policies with a national or religious orientation. In the presidential election in Tajikistan in 1991 , the Communist Party candidate, Rahmon Nabijew , prevailed. The opposition complained of numerous irregularities in the election, but did not contest the election results. After months of political confrontation between the opposition and the government, the Tajik civil war broke out in May 1992, among other things triggered by the arrest of the popular mayor of the capital Dushanbe . In the following months a bloody civil war developed, which was fueled mainly by regional interest groups. On September 7, 1992, President Nabiyev was forced to resign following the success of the opposition and was replaced by the opposition politician Akbarscho Iskandarow . This could not stabilize his position, however, and was overthrown in November 1992 by Emomalij Rahmon, who was supported by Uzbekistan and Russia . Thereupon he became the most powerful man in Tajikistan, but officially the office of president remained vacant. In 1993 and 1994 the Rahmon government tried to stabilize the situation in Tajikistan. An agreement was reached with some opposition groups, but no final peace agreement was reached with the larger opposition parties and groups, even with the mediation of the United Nations . By the day of the presidential election, which was originally scheduled for September 25, a ceasefire had been struck between the militant opposition and the government. The election date was postponed to November 6 after criticism from home and abroad, after only Rahmon had previously applied for the office of president. The postponement of the election also made it possible for the prominent Tajik politician Abdumalik Abdulladzhanov to stand .

Electoral system

Tajik suffrage provided for a nationwide majority vote for the presidential election , with the winner requiring an absolute majority to win the office of president. In addition, the right to vote guaranteed the participation of opposition parties, the preservation of freedom of expression and the possibility of a controversial and diverse political debate. This legal basis was in fact broken in the 1994 presidential election. The country's major opposition parties, including the Islamic Party of the Rebirth of Tajikistan , were banned from the civil war as opponents of Rahmon's government and were unable to put up candidates for election. Candidate registration has been one of the major franchise issues as opposition candidates have been prevented from registering. Conditions for registration were nomination by an approved political party or regional decision-making body, including city councils and provincial governments, and the production of a signature list with the signatures of at least 5% of the eligible population. Both requirements were not achievable for most of the potential candidates, especially those from the opposition spectrum, as they were not supported by parties and the hurdle with regard to the signatures was set exceptionally high.

Candidates

Due to the selective registration process, two candidates were finally put up for election. The de facto incumbent Emomalij Rahmon, who was supported by the Communist Party of Tajikistan, and the former Tajik Prime Minister and Ambassador of Tajikistan to Russia, Abdumalik Abdullajanov. The two candidates were linked by a political rivalry after Abdulladzhanov resigned from the post of prime minister in 1993 after disagreements with Rahmon. As a well-known top politician in the country and ambassador to Russia, Abdulladzhanov was one of the few politicians in the country at the time of the election with the means and popularity to run, so he was the only candidate to run against Rahmon. He agreed with the armed opposition in rejecting the policies of Rahmon, but his opinion on the government and the situation in Tajikistan was less fundamental than the militant opposition.

Result

The winner of the election was the favorite and most powerful man in the country, Emomalij Rahmon. In the first ballot it received 59.5% of the votes cast and thus achieved the required absolute majority. Abdullajanov achieved a result of 34.7% of the vote. A total of 2,409,330 votes were cast. With Rahmon's election victory, the office of President of Tajikistan was officially filled again. At the same time, the citizens voted in a constitutional referendum on the adoption of a new constitution, which was adopted with a clear majority.

consequences

With the implementation of the presidential election, Rahmon's position of power was consolidated. By introducing a new constitution, he began to reorganize state structures. In the course of the parliamentary elections in Tajikistan in 1995 , his Communist Party was able to gain a dominant position in the Tajik parliament. Nevertheless, Rahmon found himself repeatedly exposed to attacks by the opposition in the ongoing Tajik civil war, which only ended with the peace treaty of June 27, 1997.

rating

The election was criticized abroad as neither free nor fair. The ban on the opposition parties, the difficulties in registering candidates and the lack of political competition, which in Tajikistan at the time was rather fought with weapons, led to this assessment. In addition, this action by Rahmon's government represented a clear break with Tajik suffrage. The Tajik opposition also criticized the election and spoke of electoral fraud.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Linda Edgeworth, Walter Smith: Pre-election assessment . Ed .: IFES. March 1995, p. 14-16 .
  2. ↑ Human Rights Watch (ed.): Human Rights in Tajikistan on the Eve of Presidential Elections . tape 6 , no. October 13 , 1994.
  3. ^ Leader of Northern Tajikistan Is Arrested in Ukraine. Retrieved May 9, 2020 (American English).
  4. ↑ Nohlen, Dieter., Grotz, Florian., Hartmann, Christof .: Elections in Asia and the Pacific: a data handbook . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-924958-X , pp. 462 .
  5. ↑ 57. Tajikistan (1991 - present). Retrieved May 9, 2020 (American English).
  6. ↑ 57. Tajikistan (1991 - present). Retrieved May 9, 2020 (American English).
  7. ^ Tajikistan - Government Structure. Retrieved May 9, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Human Rights Watch (ed.): Human Rights in Tajikistan on the Eve of Presidential Elections . tape 6 , no. October 13 , 1994.